What Are The Most Technologically Advanced Countries?

In July 2015, President Obama signed an executive order to create the world’s most powerful supercomputer But despite a massive focus on technological development, the United States is far from the most technologically advanced country

So, what ARE the most technologically advanced countries? Now, some studies list internet speed, or social media use as measures of advancement But technologically powerful countries are only possible through a combination of research, development, scientific talent, and innovation Luckily, CityLab created a Global Technology Index combining all of these metrics First on the list is Finland Finland happens to be the birthplace of one of the largest mobile phone producers and innovators, Nokia

But more importantly, they also spend 3 and a half percent of their GDP on technological research and development This amounts to nearly 10 billion dollars a year By comparison this is the same percentage that the United States spends on their military Finland also has the highest number of scientific and engineering researchers per capita, along with one of the best educational systems in the world Their advancements in biotechnology and clean energy speak to the importance of tech in shaping our actual, everyday lives

Next on the list is Japan Japan is well known for its contributions to the technological revolution Much of this success can be attributed to government allocation and investment during the mid to late 20th century Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry involved Japan in early semiconductor development, while keeping foreign competition away and exchange rates low This put them ahead of the rest of the world, and resulted in a long reign of dominating semiconductor and microcontroller sales

Today, Japan is one of the leading tech innovators, with the second highest number of patents per capita In third place is the United States While the US is first in patents per capita, it is better known for hosting the world’s biggest tech companies 8 of the top 12 by revenue are based in the US, with a COMBINED revenue nearing a trillion dollars Nearly all 20th century, world-changing tech developments, like nuclear energy, integrated circuitry, even the internet itself, were developed through US defense spending

But despite accounting for a third of the entire world’s technology budget, there are a number of reasons the US doesn’t take home the gold First and foremost is the monopolistic lack of internet access and speed due to under regulation of internet service providers The US also falls way behind in science and technology education, ranking average and below average compared to other OECD countries Most importantly, however, the US has massively reallocated their military budget away from science and tech research That money instead goes towards expenditures like the department of homeland security

It is clear that today’s tech landscape is rapidly changing New technologies are springing up all over the world, and the entry barrier is as low as it has ever been It will certainly be interesting to see which countries will come to dominate the technologically advanced future Finland might be the most technologically advanced country – but it doesn’t have the fastest internet To learn which country has the best connection, check out our video now